(CNN) President Joe Biden authorized the Defense Production Act to spur US manufacturing of solar and several other forms of clean energy, the White House announced Monday.
Biden authorized the Energy Department to use the DPA to speed up domestic manufacturing of solar panel components, energy-efficient heat pumps, building insulation, electric transformers needed for the power grid and equipment like electrolyzers and fuel cells. The White House also announced it will leverage the power of the federal government's purse for clean energy, using federal procurement to increase US solar manufacturing.
The White House also announced a two-year suspension of anti-circumvention tariffs on solar panels that have effectively ground much of the US solar industry to a halt, after intense lobbying from much of the US solar industry. US solar installers and trade associations said the threat of these tariffs had a chilling impact on the industry, after the Commerce Department launched a tariff probe in March. Because of the steep, retroactive tariffs that could result from the probe, hundreds of utility-scale solar projects in the US have been delayed or canceled, and solar industry workers laid off as a result.
The Commerce tariff investigation into whether four countries in Southeast Asia that supply about 80% of US solar panels and parts -- Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam -- are using components from China that should be subject to US tariffs has not concluded.
While a senior administration official stressed the White House is not interfering with Commerce's quasi-judicial process, they also defended the new two-year pause on tariffs.
figgyjello on June 6th, 2022 at 15:57 UTC »
0% financing for residential solar please please please. Maybe toss additional tax rebates in there too. Anything to help me afford it.
mustachafrass on June 6th, 2022 at 14:13 UTC »
Well that's a big fucking deal.
adeliberateidler on June 6th, 2022 at 14:10 UTC »
A little backstory here. A guy who owns a solar production company files a complain with the Department of Commerce in 2021 to investigate solar producers in Southeast Asia who he claimed were circumventing Chinese sanctions by using Chinese parts to produce their panels.
The investigation basically kneecapped the entire industry with many experts estimating 2/3rds of all projects were shut down in the US due to this probe.
It is still ongoing but this Biden move will waive all tariffs and restrictions from this probe for 2 years, allowing import normally from these four countries in SE Asia. They're also going to give money to solar installers in the US to hire again and start building projects that they forced to shutdown with the probe.